ibm response. Re: Tiger Tools

From: "Ed Fishel" <edfishel@us.ibm.com>
>
> IBM plans to provide fixes across multiple releases of OS/400, re-stock
> versions of OS/400 resident in IBM distribution libraries, and incorporate
> code into future OS/400 releases. All of these efforts will be deployed in
> the coming months to make adjustments to OS/400 as IBM strives to address
> current and/or future  unauthorized enablement of unpaid for capacity.
>

Mr. Fishel,

This is terrible news.  It reaffirms Rochester mgmt's commitment to the
interactive tax.

I think the most harmful affect of the interactive tax on our system is that
it limits the marketing of the system as a telnet server.  Telnet connected
devices like RF terminals, palm devices and pocket pc's offer cutting edge
functionality to their users. Applications written to provide this
functionality are a growth opportunity for iSeries appl vendors.

Our system is an excellent platform for such applications. The tn5250 rfc
spec is more feature rich than the telnet specs used on the windows
platform.  5250 has dormant graphics orders capability ( the basis for
gddm ) that rochester has decided to let wither and die. Reenabling this
graphic order support in 5250 would enhance telnet even more.

The current iSeries server models are adequate for running todays modular,
layered computer code. A telnet application which builds screens on the fly,
just as html is built at run time, is a very good interactive programming
paradigm. To do this, the full power of the system is needed at a price that
is competivie with other platforms.

Steve Richter